I estimate that one third of "no return offer" decisions I've seen have been attributable to the intern. The other two thirds are attributable to the team or co

I estimate that one third of "no return offer" decisions I've seen have been attributable to the intern. The other two thirds are attributable to the team or company. Poor task selection, poor support, unreasonable expectations, and unrelated politics are all things I've seen result in no return offer. On the other hand, I've also seen plenty of interns receive return offers for reasons entirely unrelated to their performance. The frequent lack of empathy for the young people whose careers are being shaped is also pretty sickening. The email which opens this post is a good example. I recently witnessed a manager weasling out of delivering the bad news to their intern in person, instead opting for an email the following week. I once saw an intern miss out on an offer because their manager didn't get a bureaucratic task done on time. That person was set to graduate the following year. All anecdata, of course, and tech interns have it much better than interns in most other industries (who are frequently unpaid gophers). Still, it's disappointing to read stories like this one.